Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce acquires National Business League

The Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce has acquired the National Business League Inc., founded in 1900 by Booker T. Washington.

The national organization will relocate from Washington, D.C., to Detroit at 1001 Woodward Ave. building, the MBCC announced Monday.

"We are now the National Business League," Ken Harris, the CEO and co-founder of the Michigan Black Chamber, said in an announcement at Campus Martius Park. "This gives black businesses a national platform with a 117-year history."

Aimed at promoting the commercial and financial development of African Americans, the National Business League is made up of 365 chapters serving 15,000 members, with regional offices in Detroit, Atlanta, Georgia, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, according to a media advisory.

The nonprofit MBCC has a similar goal of economically empowering and sustaining African-American businesses by advocating for "economic development through entrepreneurship, procurement, community reinvestment, programmatic and professional development, and capitalistic activity," according to the advisory.

The acquisition makes sense because Detroit is considered the center for black business development in the U.S., the advisory said, and the location will enhance the National Business League's access to 2.5 million black businesses in the country.

National Business League members employ almost 1 million people, the media advisory said.